Integrated medical systems have become widely used in operating room environments. These systems often encompass a wide array of medical tools, instruments and equipment, which may include associated controllers, medical imaging devices including associated interfaces, controllers and displays, and various computers connected via network connections to Hospital Information Systems (HIS) and other medical networks and databases. These medical systems can be quite expensive, however, the versatility and programmability allow for many different types of procedures to be performed with the same medical system located in the operating room. As such, the configuration of which tools, instruments, equipment, imaging devices and so forth can vary widely depending upon the type of medical procedure that is to be performed.
The time involved to turn the medical system on, to select the correct surgical procedure to be performed, to select which devices and equipment are to be used, and then to set the proper operating parameters for the various devices can be significant. This is compounded by the fact that one surgeon may have particular settings that they want set for various tools and equipment that may differ from another surgeon. To alleviate some of the onerous time requirements for setting the various devices to proper settings, some surgeons have put together pre-set parameters for various devices depending upon the procedure to be preformed. For example, a surgeon could bring a USB drive to the operating room, which is inserted into a port in the system whereby the system receives the surgeon's preset parameters from the USB drive to configure the system. Alternatively, an assistant can perform this function by uploading a surgeon's preset parameters.
However, mistakes can be made due to human error. For example, the parameters that are uploaded may be associated with the wrong procedure to be performed. Once the mistake is identified, it may take time to reconfigure the system properly for the current procedure, disadvantageously delaying the start of the procedure for busy operating rooms. If the mistake is uncovered during the procedure, this could prolong the time the patient is under anesthesia, which should be avoided.
Another type of mistake that could happen is that presets are loaded for a surgeon other than the surgeon performing the procedure. It is understood that each surgeon, over the course of performing many similar procedures, may prefer to preset the settings of the various medical tools and equipment in a precise manner. As such, one surgeon may prefer to set a piece of medical equipment at one setting, while a different surgeon may set the same piece of medical equipment at a different setting. If the wrong presets are loaded (e.g., the right procedure but for a different surgeon), this may not be noticed until the procedure has commenced, and the surgeon may require their particular presets to be loaded or for the equipment to be manually fine tuned according to the surgeon's preferences. In any event, the time under anesthesia for the patient could be unnecessarily extended. This type of mistake could occur if one surgeon is scheduled to perform the surgical procedure and their presets are loaded, but a different surgeon is then subsequently scheduled to perform the procedure.
Accordingly, one problem faced by current systems is how to identify and verify which surgeon is performing the procedure and verifying that the system is configured based on the identified surgeon's presets.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,331,674 (the '674 patent) attempts to deal with the challenge of performing a visual scan to determine whether surgical personnel are wearing masks. For example, the '674 patent determines if a face viewed by the system has a surgical mask on, and if so, the system would grant physical access to the operating room. However, the system disclosed and taught in the '674 patent is not capable of determining who the individual is, but rather, only whether they are wearing a mask. Accordingly, the '674 patent cannot address any of the previously-described problems.
Still another problem faced by busy surgical hospitals is keeping track of linking a patient with the proper procedure to be performed. Check and cross-check procedures have been instituted in busy hospitals to ensure that a patient scheduled for a surgical procedure receives the proper procedure. These procedures often include the surgical team checking the patient's wrist band to determine if the patient and procedure that is to be performed properly match. This is a manual process that is typically performed multiple times by different hospital personnel prior to surgery. As such, while this is a critically important process, it is time-consuming and is still prone to human error.
Another challenge faced by surgical teams is the need to adjust medical tools and equipment, including operating room equipment, during the surgical procedure. To maintain the sterile environment, the sterile surgical team cannot touch non-sterile equipment during the procedure. One way to address this problem is to maintain an individual outside the sterile environment that is available to adjust the equipment as needed. This solution, however, requires additional personnel for a very limited function, in a work space that is limited and increases the costs of the procedure. Alternatively, different types of equipment have been provided within the sterile environment such as touch screen controllers allowing the sterile surgical personnel to adjust settings as desired. However, this requires providing equipment that is capable of being sterilized, whether through heat or chemical processes, which again significantly increases the cost of the equipment.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0179162 (the '162 application) discloses a system of touch free operation of devices by use of depth sensors that allows a user to input hand gestures that can be correlated into control commands. However, the '162 application does not address the issue of automatically identifying a user and configuring a medical system based on the identification. Nor does the '162 application address the problem of confirming the identity of a patient upon which a surgical procedure is to be performed. Likewise, there is no teaching of allowing for control of an integrated medical system used in an operating room.